The Queen's Papal Meetings Through the Years

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican, April 3, 2014. Queen Elizabeth II has come to Rome for lunch with Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano ahead of the British monarch's first meeting with Pope Francis. Before Francis, Elizabeth had met with four pontiffs, starting with Pope Pius XII in 1951, a year before her accession to the throne.

Stefano Rellandini/AP Photo

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican, April 3, 2014. Queen Elizabeth II has come to Rome for lunch with Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano ahead of the British monarch's first meeting with Pope Francis. Before Francis, Elizabeth had met with four pontiffs, starting with Pope Pius XII in 1951, a year before her accession to the throne.

Stefano Rellandini/AP Photo

Pope Benedict XVI, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, leaves the Palace of Holyrood House at the start of his four-day visit to Britain, Sept. 16, 2010, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Anwar Hussein Collection/Getty Images

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with Pope John Paul II, Oct. 17, 2000, during a historic meeting in the pope's private office in the Vatican, in Rome.